Pledges To Women Earn Commendations

CAROL KLEIMAN - The workplace

January 22, 1996|CAROL KLEIMAN

Guithele M. Ruiz is director of the Office of Equal Opportunity for the city of Hollywood.

Ruiz - and the city - have a commitment to helping Hollywood's 428 female employees (out of a staff of 1,300) move into some of the better-paying jobs such as supervisors, police officers and other professional positions.

"We need to prepare ourselves for the 21st century and a diverse work force," said Ruiz, who has a bachelor of arts degree in organizational communication from Pace University in New York and is certified in affirmative action procedures.

Ruiz notes that more than 50 percent of the city's female workers now are in support positions with pay that averages in the $20,000s annually. Police officers are hired at $28,000, and supervisory jobs pay from $40,000 to $50,000.

"We intend to recruit internally," Ruiz said. "We will encourage qualified women to get training from our human resources division to enhance their skills and marketability for other city positions."

It's apparent that Hollywood is serious about opening the doors of opportunity for female employees - its new program is called "Valuing Women's Work through Job Training and Career Advancement."

Elements of the program include management training, on-the-job training, after-hours educational programs and apprenticeship training.

"It's a great program," Ruiz said. "We've got to pay more attention to women's needs."

The city is so serious about its commitment to women that it has pledged to the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Labor Department that it will make work better for women.

The city is listed on the bureau's Working Women Count Honor Roll, a project to encourage employers, organizations and individuals to implement policies and programs to improve the status of employed women.

Pledges from various groups, according to the bureau, are "pouring in."They include a wide range of programs such as personal leave time, flexible work schedules, on-site child care and training.

There's an apprenticeship program in Anchorage to recruit, counsel and refer 35 women, including 10 single mothers on welfare, to training and nontraditional occupations across the state.

McAlvain Construction Co., a small firm in Boise, Idaho, will help employees balance work and family needs by allowing flexible hours. Parents may bring their children to work when other child care falls through.

Bausch and Lomb Inc., headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., pledges to expand the company's comprehensive family benefits to include all U.S. employees.

And Sara Lee Corp., based in Chicago, is on the Honor Roll with a vow to increase diversity at middleand senior-management levels. The company will establish goals for promotion, lateral development and hiring.

The promises made by companies to the government show that most employers know exactly what women need in order to enter or to move ahead in the work world.

For instance, GTE Corp. in Needham, Mass., is on the Honor Roll because it pledges to offer emergency child care on snow days and school holidays. It allows workers to bring their children to work and has private rooms for nursing mothers.

The Congress of National Black Churches in Washington will give employees in its national office a training allowance of $750 to $1,500 each.

Arizona's governor's commission on nontraditional employment for women in Phoenix will establish a clearinghouse and bilingual resource guide on nontraditional jobs and training programs for Arizona women.

Aetna Life and Casualty Co. in Hartford, Conn., has a prenatal health education hotline staffed by nurses.

And, a program that's really on target: Parents whose employers are members of the Bay Area Emergency Care Consortium in San Francisco have only to call an 800 number to get quality child care in their home when their regular arrangements fall through.

Karen Nussbaum, director of the Women's Bureau, expects 1 million Americans to benefit from pledges of Honor Roll employers.

And, another benefit of the programs: "We expect employers, local officials, organizations ... to see that change is possible, and that it works to everyone's advantage," Nussbaum said.